Swap Your Way to Healthy
We’ve been busy behind the scenes for the last two weeks as we prepare for our Winter-Spring Challenge, which starts on Monday 12th July (i.e. 3 days)! One thing that has been on our mind is how to make small swaps to life, food, drinks and in our personal lives that can make big differences. Often, when you aren’t seeing the results you want, it could be to do with teeny habits that you don’t give a second thought. So, here are some ideas that may resonate with you, and if they do, feel free to try a few!
FOOD SWAPS
RICE for CAULIFLOWER
If you want the volume but not the high carb count, then this is the perfect dinner accompaniment. Add onion and seasoning to the cauliflower to make it extra tasty!
1 cup rice –23-kcal: 44g C, 5g P, 0.6 F
1 cup cauliflower – 40 kcal: 6g C, 2g P, 0g FLEMONADE/ TONIC WATER for SODA
This cheeky swap can transform those heavy weekends into enjoyable but much lighter! Lemonade and tonic water are notoriously high in sugar. So you may be thinking a voddy lemonade or lush G&T is saving you from those wine Kcals, but they absolutely are not. The sugar is not only bad for your insides and nutrition progress, but also the bloody hangover! Soda water is our go-to mixer. Add some fresh lime and rosemary to the gin, fresh lime to the vodka. You can even go fancy and add berries to it!
220ml Lemonade = 70kcal: 15g sugar!
220ml Tonic Water = 88kcal: 21.6g sugar!
(and that is not including your chosen alcohol…)
220ml Soda Water = 0g
What you can derive from this is, ONE G&T sets you back the equivalent of 1 whole 50g bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate in sugar!
ICE CREAM for HOT CHOCOLATE COLLAGEN PROTEIN
There are so many ice cream alternatives on the market now. Personally, we love HALO (although that is a little expensive) which only has 350kcals per tub and quite literally tastes like angels.
Alternatively, Body Beyond in Ballina has some epic protein alternatives. We LOVE the hot choc collagen protein – and it’s also a perfect winter warmer as well.WHITE for GREEN
Rather than filling up your plate with the rest of the rice or the potatoes, make sure that you reserve more for those delicious greens! They take such little effort to make, and are super speedy too. Steam or boil some broccoli or fry it up with a spritz of oil and chill and salt and pepper! Asparagus is pretty cheap at Coles this week too ($2.50 a bunch).SUGAR for CINNAMON
Cinnamon has so many benefits, not least that it is NOT a sugary sweetener. Sugar impacts brain function, raises cholesterol, overloads the liver, increases chances of diabetes and is highly addictive. Cinnamon, on the other hand GIVES you:- Antioxidants! Among many other things, these have powerful anti-inflammatory effects and repair tissue damage and prevent muscle damage.
- Speeds up metabolism- it can reduce the storage of excess fat, burn more calories and help weight loss
- Control insulin levels
- Reduce heart disease risk
- Suppresses appetite – eating sugar pumps up insulin levels, blocking leptin levels (which is a hormone for appetite reduction and fat burning). Replacing sugar for the spice alternative will satisfy your sweet tooth and feel fuller for longer.
LIFE AND FITNESS SWAPS
NETFLIX BINGE for NETFLIX PLUS WALK
We all love a Netflix 5-episoder. But rather than stay plonked on the couch for the whole Sunday, why not hop up and walk around the block after two episodes! The fresh air will give you a lovely blast of life, and you can still accumulate your step count for the day whilst enjoying being a couch potato <3LIFT for STAIRS
Yep, by now you have definitely heard or read a few times that the stairs are better than the lift. No, the escalator does not count. You're still standing still.. ;)SMOKING IN THE CAR for SINGING IN THE CAR
Who’s guilty of a cheeky ciggy in traffic? Pop the pack somewhere you can’t reach it safely, and reach for your favourite Spotify belter playlist instead!
"YOUR SEX IS ON FIIIIRRREEEEEEEE!"11:30PM for 9:30PM BEDTIME
A 5:45 class makes for an early wake up, as do many other daily starts. And getting an extra hour of sleep can really make a difference to your day, and mental health! Take it from us as trainers, when we go to bed pre-10pm we have a much better, more active day.
On top of this, more sleep contributes to better immune health, weight maintenance, reduced stress, thinking clearly, getting on with people better.FALLING ASLEEP TO A MOVIE for TO A MEDITATION
The way you fall asleep is also important. When you fall asleep to the tv you can not only impact the quality of your sleep, but also soak in blue light which can mess up sleep by suppressing production of melatonin. By falling asleep to stimulating content you might also linger in the lighter sleep stages, causing you to miss out on some of the important restorative work the body does during sleep like consolidating memories and healing muscles.
Falling asleep to a meditation literally transformed the way I can sleep now! I recommendAbraham Hicks Deep Sleep Meditation. It is transformative for the way you think and act too :).DRIVING TO THE SHOPS for CYCLING/ WALKING
Maybe you live close enough to a coffee shop or store to justify walking or cycling instead of driving? Walking to and from brunch could burn it off completely! Even if it is just a 5 minute walk, it is superbly more beneficial, raising your steps for the day and getting blood flowing through the body.EATING LUNCH AT YOUR DESK for A NEW SPOT
When we eat lunch at our desk, we don’t switch off and we certainly don’t absorb the food we are eating with as much consciousness as if you get up and move somewhere else! It is so good for the brain to remove yourself from a work station – otherwise you may feel like you’re taking a break, but let’s be honest you’ve probably still got one eye on the email, right?TEXTING for A PHONE CALL
How nice is it when you have a conversation over a text chat? Even if you don’t feel like it, or feel hesitant or overwhelmed, try swapping a text a day for a phone call! If you’re feeling in a bit of a slump, another person’s voice can boost your mood! Phone calls also really help to strengthen relationships, and we can truly get to know what they mean when they say something, rather than decipher words. The human quality to communication is lost over text- so let's bring it back and call each other this week.SCROLLING for READING A BOOK
We can’t help it – you open a social app, and next minute you have been scrolling for 5. Well, we CAN help it. We just have to be ON it. We have to consciously change these habits and work at them! Let’s start by challenging ourselves to pick up a book before bed, instead of scroll. Or, when you find that finger start to slide, drop the phone, put a timer on and read a book for 10 minutes instead!
PERSONAL SWAPS
COMPLAINING/ JUDGING for PRAISE/ A COMPLIMENT
Our external environment is a reflection of our internal thoughts. If you are in the habit of complaining a lot and passing judgement, then you will continue finding things to complain about and judge! When you feel the judgement bubbling up, next time, LOOK for a compliment, or a positive, and think or say that instead. Soon, if you carry this habit on consciously, you will find that you become happier as a person because your brain is looking for and finding things to love! It’s like when you think about a car brand or type, you can’t stop seeing them everywhere, right?
Plus, how nice is it to make someone smile, rather than worry or be self-conscious!SELF CRITICISM for SELF LOVE
When you hear that critique of self come smashing in from the sideline, breathe in, and let it breeze on through. Train your brain to hear the neg, and immediately think of a positive instead! For example:
“God, I look disgusting, look at my arms” >>> “I really love how my bum looks in these jeans”.
If you are used to the self-critical chat, then this is a tough exercise to start with. You might feel silly and you might struggle to find a positive. But with time, and with practise, you will see such a difference!
Now, you know that our style is not to tell you how to live your lives, nor command you to make all the above changes and ensure that you do EVERY SINGLE ONE or you will fail! No way! Our suggestion is simple: if any of the above resonate with you, then try implementing the swap for one week. Maybe try two or three this week, and see how you feel! Week 1 of this challenge will enable you to set this as a goal, and we will have some tangible ideas for you to implement, so watch out for those next week.
We would love to hear about your SWAPS, so let us know by sharing your stories on insta and tagging us! Maybe a cheeky food pic, or when you are proud of yourself for swapping the neg thoughts for positive ones!
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